When teaching a topic that relies on prior knowledge.
Curriculum design requirements.
Retrieval practice. Regular, spaced retrieval of information.
Considerations
The difficulty of differentiation. Different starting points create different paths for each student. Some experiences are lost because of knowledge differences.
How can the ‘you should know this’ be avoided?
Research shows some of the students do actually ‘know this’. Retrieval is the crux. Behaviour: talking and distracted not focused. Social hierarchy of class means won’t ask for help or answer too many question.
Intelligence
Defined as an individual's capacity to navigating problem space. Students learn at different rates. Could be environmental. Explains why some students know something and others in same class don’t. Same stimulus affects each pupil differently. Videos make one student sleepy the other engaged. We only have so much time and the frustration occurs when this is a focus.
‘Should’
'Should' comes from the idea that certain things are learnt at a certain time. Time constraints due to exams. Sometimes we move on regardless.
Waves of materials
eg APP, curriculum maps, data, progress tracking that may support teaching. Classrooms are complex environments so hard to know whether that thing had the impact. Research shows that schools can be slow to react when a ‘solution’ doesn’t work. Some teachers comply, others are cynical and question. All have potential to be frustrated. How do we ensure our books demonstrate x? Confusion can flip to intensity. Trying desperately to make it work. Workload. Burnout. Depersonalisation - all need taking into account.
‘You should know this’
Could lead to teachers patching over gaps. Affects the way I interact with students and teachers. If we deny the complexity in the classroom then the ‘You should know this’ is inevitable. It is the crux of teaching.
When it happens
Deciding what to do next, how to address this, reflecting on how you will address it next time.
Virtual Learning
Portray the curriculum, enlist participation, expose thinking, containing behaviour.
Start lesson with a review. Compromise. Problem in a different situation to make sure you avoid boredom This affects all of us. Students are sometimes bored. Part of the job not individual failure.